"This book examines the relationship between international human rights standards and local legal norms in the People's Republic of China (PRC). Focussing on the realm of criminal justice in post-Deng China, Criminal Procedure Law reforms and their impact on the PRC's ratification of and future accession to the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, this book examines the limits to the protection of criminal suspects rights during pre-trial proceedings. Notwithstanding the significance of pre-trial proceedings in the Chinese criminal justice system, to date no other publication in a Western language has systematically focussed on this important issue. This book thus fills a serious gap in the literature by offering a detailed discussion of this aspect of criminal justice and human rights in contemporary China. The book is intended as a contribution to the study of Chinese law, human rights law and comparative criminal justice, and by considering developments in Chinese local legal culture, it also explores issues of broader interest to comparativists and legal sociologists"--Provided by publisher.